The Danger of Working at Height

Safety harnesses are one of many safety products illustrated in an excellent and highly informative new brochure which contains good background information as well as product descriptions.

Falls from height are the most common cause of fatal injuries at work (on average about 70 deaths every year) and the second most common cause of all major injuries to employees accounting for 15% of all such injuries (approximately 4000 a year).

The Health and Safety Commission have chosen this subject as one of their priority programmes for reducing injuries in the work place.

There is an urgent need to recognise hazards and produce safe systems for working at height.

A part of this means using safety harnesses and related equipment.

Severnside Safety Supplies Limited of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK are major suppliers of Bacou Dalloz fall arrest products - this range includes equipment from Miller, Troll, Komet, Soll and Swelock.

Specialist equipment is also available for rope access work and arboriculture (tree surgery).

The Bacou Dalloz range is illustrated in an excellent and highly informative new brochure which contains good background information as well as product descriptions.

Examples of this include :- categories of use, harness selection, applicable European Standards (EN), legislation, how to put on a harness properly (not as many people know this as think they do!), calculating fall clearance based on fall factors and other industry specific information.

Severnside also stock selected items from other manufacturers such as Protecta, Edelrid and Willans.

The mainstay of the harness range is the Miller Duraflex range which incorporates a unique, patented type of elasticated webbing for improved performance and comfort.

This is Teflon coated for resistance to oil, dirt and water - so extending the safe working life of the harness.

The full body harnesses range from relatively simple types with just one attachment point at the rear to more sophisticated styles with front, rear and side attachment points with padded waist belts, back supports and leg loops.

A new entry level range of harnesses and kits has just been introduced under the Titan brand name.

The Harnesses (depending on the particular model) conform to EN361 Full Body Fall Arrest Harnesses, EN358 Work Positioning Harnesses or EN 813 Sit Harnesses - or a combination of these standards.

A harness on it's own is useless, of course, without suitable anchorage points and a way of connecting to them safely and securely without impeding the task being undertaken.

The anchorage point (or secure tie-off point) is generally part of the structure being worked on e.g a girder, scaffold pole or specially installed rail, to which an anchorage connector can be attached (e.g a webbing strap, steel sling or girder grip).

This then attaches to a connecting device giving intermediate attachment to the harness.

This intermediate attachment is in many ways the most critical as it will determine the distance that the user may fall in the event of an accident.

This device is usually a shock absorbing lanyard, fall limiter, self-retracting lifeline or rope grab.

In many situations the harness and attachments are part of a back up system that you hope is not going to be used - like a first aid kit or insurance - but it can be an essential tool for performing certain tasks which wouldn't be possible without it.

This area of use is often described as rope access work or work positioning as distinct from the fall arrest situation.

Another application of harness based systems is restraint whereby the user is prevented from reaching the point of falling e.g from a roof or cherry picker.

The Miller harness range includes several kits covering the requirements of, e.g, scaffolders, steel erectors, roofers, maintenance workers and users of Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWP) - also known as cherry pickers, aerial lifts etc - as well as specialised products for arboriculture, GSM Telephony, Hi-Tension Cable Pylon work, installation and maintenance work on electricity and telephone pylons or overhead cables and telecom masts and even confined space work - access and rescue.

In addition to all this Bacou-Dalloz can also offer fixed installation lifeline systems and a variety of training courses for all sorts of situations.

One of the cleverest accessories is the Barracuda Scaffolding Lanyard - perhaps the only way of attaching to a vertical scaffold pole properly and at a good height.

It is always best to have an anchor point above head height (or at least waist height) and traditionally this has been difficult if not impossible when building up scaffolding - the anchor point often being at feet level).

The Barracuda is an anchorage connector and fall arrest lanyard all in one.

It incorporates the also patented and unique Manyard which, due to it's special type of elastication, reduces the risks of snagging and tripping during normal work whilst offering superior performance when put to the test as a fall arresting system.

Like the Duraflex harnesses this is also Teflon coated to prolong it's service life.

The Manyard is available in other forms with more conventional types of attachments such as scaffold hooks and karabiners.

As good as shock absorbing lanyards are they do have some limitations - particularly for workers at relatively small heights but still high enough to be dangerous.

By the time the shock absorber has worked the wearer may have effectively fallen 5 or 6 metres or more (this depends on the height of the anchorage point).

In these situations fall limiters or self retracting lifelines are best and have the added advantage of being very neat and compact but allowing greater freedom of movement relative to the anchorage point.

The Miller Falcon Personal Fall Limiter is a good example weighing only 1 kg.

An area just moved into in this latest catalogue is that of arboriculture (aka tree surgery).

Specialised items for this industry include the Miller Komet Butterfly Belt, the Dragonfly belt, Evolution Belt and Green Belt.

As well as these work positioning/sit harnesses the range includes climbing irons (spikes), ascenders, descenders, split tails, cambium savers, throw bags and lines, climbing line (rope) and various work positioning lanyards including those with steel reinforcement to prevent cutting by the chainsaw.

This product range is an ideal complement to Severnside's existing range of items for chainsaw users - chainsaw boots, chainsaw trousers, chainsaw gloves as well as jackets, bib and brace and helmets with earmuffs and face visors attached.

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